Randy Shelerud, M.D., Mayo Clinic specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation

There's probably an overwhelming amount of information out there available to patients these days — whether it be from newspapers or magazines, books, the Internet, or even from friends and family. And many times that information is not objective. In other words, it may be cleverly disguised advertisement for a certain product or treatment. And so I think physicians can be used as a resource for patients, and patients can be directed toward or away from certain materials about treatment or education that might be most accurate for them. In addition, patients can be steered away or toward certain treatment, depending on the type of chronic low back pain that they have. I think it's important for physicians, on the other hand, to give the patients information that allow them to have realistic expectations about what these treatments can actually offer patients.

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